NNPC invites indigenous companies to bid for marginal oil fields

Maikanti Baru, group managing direct of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), says members of the Independent Petroleum Producers Group (IPPG) should participating in the forthcoming bid for 30 marginal oil fields which would soon be flagged off by the federal government.

In a statement signed by Ndu Ughamadu, spokesman of the corporation, Baru gave this charge when he received a delegation of IPPG led by its chairman, Ademola Adeyemi-Bero, at the NNPC Towers in Abuja, where he also urged them to take advantage of the low crude oil price regime to develop their capacity and acquire technology.

Marginal fields are oil fields that may not produce enough net income to make it worth developing at a given time.

Baru said there are opportunities in the marginal fields which would soon be available urging the IPPG to work hand-in-hand with the Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) to ensure that they meet the conditions that would be required from bidders.

“The marginal oil field lease renewal is an opportunity for your group. You will need to engage the DPR early in discussion to find out the conditions that the federal government is interested in. For example, the supply of gas to power plants and fertilizer plants and I think your group will be successful.”

He also urged the IPPG to ramp up their collective production from 10% of national production to 50% in the next 10 years in order to increase the footprint of indigenous companies in the upstream sub-sector as is the case in the downstream.

He said the corporation was very proud of them and was looking forward to a time when about 90% of upstream operations in the country would be controlled by them.

Baru applauded members of the group for their productive community engagement which had stemmed the incidence of pipeline sabotage along the Trans Forcados Pipeline and enjoined them to extend a similar gesture to the communities around the other crude oil lines to help stabilise national production.

Adeyemi-Bero, chairman of the group, who made a presentation to the NNPC management, said the group was made up of 25 active indigenous producers and driven by the passion to support the 12 business focus areas of the current management of NNPC and the Seven Big Wins of the federal government.

He praised the federal government for initiating the joint venture cash call exit programme, adding that the move would bolster their activities in the upstream sub-sector.